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Happy Days was the That '70s Show of its era, this show rode the wave of a surging nostalgia craze in the mid-1970s and helped fuel the nation's bizarre obsession with the 1950s.

I know I'm in the minority here but I find Happy Days mildly obnoxious in many ways and way too silly but it's a slickly produced affair in that way sitcoms were in the mid-'70s.

That said, I do enjoy watching the odd episode of Happy Days as it reminds me of my own happier days (when I was in college, reruns were popular in the dorms) but it too often it feels like sitting through a high school play where every problem is neatly tied up in less than 30 minutes. That's the beauty of a sitcom like this, the certainty of it all.

With Happy Days it's hard to determine where the 1950s end and the 1970s begin, the plots and gags are mostly fifties' recyclables but the sensibility is decidedly seventies. That became even more pronounced in later seasons when they all but gave up on the idea that the show should look like it was set 20 years in the past.

This DVD collection covers the 1975-76 season when the unbelievably huge Fonzie craze was really taking off - catch phrases like, "Sit on it," "Aaaayyyy," and calling people "nerds" could whip the studio audience into a frenzy. By the end of this season, Happy Days was the hottest show in the nation and spawned a spin-off (Laverne & Shirley) that was equally popular.

Another nice thing about season 3 was that Pat Morita played burger joint owner Arnold, this was his only year on the series.

Surprisingly, some of the prints are quite grainy but for the most part the picture clarity and sound are solid. The show always had an appropriately dreary, muted look anyway.

There's a bonus episode included, a cookie cutter clip show that aired mid-season to capitalize on the show's newfound popularity. If you own season 1 and 3 of Happy Days, you've got the best of the series in my opinion.

Happy Days came along at a pivotal point in television history, bridging the '70s and '80s. In 11 seasons the nation watched as the characters aged and grew with time. What better way to reacquaint yourself with this fan favorite than on DVD?

This third season set is less than $30.00 if you order online now.

Studio: Paramount Home Video
DVD Release Date: November 27, 2007
Run Time: 580 minutes

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Carol Burnett Show on DVD

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Mork & Mindy - The Third Season (1978)
Starring: Robin Williams, Pam Dawber Rating

Product Description:
Mork & Mindy was a spin-off from an episode of Happy Days seen in February 1978, in which an alien from the planet Ork landed on Earth and attempted to kidnap Richie. So popular was the nutty character created by Robin Williams that Williams was given his own series in the fall of 1978, and it became an instant hit.

Mork was a misfit on his own planet because his sense of humor (he was heard to call the Orkan leader, Orson, "cosmic breath"). So the humorless Orkans sent him off to study Earthlings, whose "crazy" customs they had never been able to understand. Mork landed, in a giant eggshell near Boulder, Colorado. There he was befriended by pretty Mindy McConnell, a clerk at the music store run by her father, Frederick. Mork looked human, but his strange mixture of Orkan and Earthling customs--such as wearing a suit, but putting it on backwards, or sitting in a chair, but upside down--led most people to think of him as just as some kind of nut.

Mindy knew where he came from, and helped him adjust to Earth's strange ways. She also let him stay in the attic of her apartment house, which scandalized her conservative father, but not her swinging grandmother, Cora.

Studio: Paramount Home Video
DVD Release Date: November 27, 2007
Run Time: 649 minutes